Construction on a Norwegian defense contractor’s missile factory in James City County will start by mid-year, with the first munitions rolling out of production in 2028.
Leaders from Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace Inc., alongside Virginia and county representatives, officially broke ground Friday on the new plant in Toano. It will be the more-than-200-year-old company’s first missile assembly facility in the United States.
The 150,000 square foot space will also be the first tenant of a more than 2 million square foot industrial park. Kongsberg expects to employ at least 180 people at the factory to manufacture two types of cruise missiles to sell to the U.S. military, which will be armed at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown.
Heather Armentrout, head of Kongsberg’s U.S. subsidiary, said they’ll be crucial to “help ensure that our Armed Forces deter our enemies and, if needed, defeat them in contested environments.”
James City County’s proximity to several military installations and the quickly growing Port of Virginia made it stand out among competitors for the project. County leaders expect the jobs and the $100 million investment at the property to be a boon for the locality.
“It will really be the kind of opportunity for people to get highly technical jobs that allow them to prosper,” said John McGlennon, chair of James City County’s board of supervisors.
The project, which garnered more than $2 million in state grants, was announced in 2024. The site still needs significant work to be ready for Kongsberg and other tenants at the planned Lovett 64 Commerce Center. Lovett Industrial, the center’s Houston-based developer, is gearing up for major road, utilities and drainage upgrades at the site located in a largely rural area. SunCap Property Group is leading work for Kongsberg’s plant.
Shep Miller, Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s transportation secretary, said the project is a “powerful” example of onshoring manufacturing capabilities in the U.S.
“It’s about strengthening supply chain resilience, reducing reliance on foreign sources for critical components and ensuring that the systems our service members rely on are built securely, reliably and close to home,” he said.
Kongsberg has grown its global portfolio in recent years. President Eirik Lie said rising geopolitical uncertainty has increased demand for its missiles, prompting the company to open a new Norway factory, expand its footprint at its remote weapons systems plant in Pennsylvania and break ground on new facilities in Australia and James City County.
The James City County plant, though, will be the company’s largest outside of Norway. For Anniken Huitfeldt, Norwegian ambassador to the U.S., that’s symbolic of the depth of the two NATO allies’ bond.
“The missiles built here in Virginia will protect Norway, will protect the United States, and also our NATO allies,” she said.
The project comes as tensions over the future of the alliance ratcheted up this year. President Donald Trump renewed a push to bring Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO member Denmark, under U.S. control. The White House has not ruled out military intervention to achieve the goal; European nations including Norway sent a small number of forces to the island last week.
“We have no interest in changing the geography up in the Arctic region,” Huitfeldt said. “We need to strengthen our collective security in that region, but Greenland belongs to Denmark.”
Kongsberg's plans will continue regardless of the alliance's fate, Lie said.
“We are here as a company building up more capacity,” he said. “This is part of our strategy, so we’ll continue doing that.”
